GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 35 - June 2016

His love for the Grand National began with a 50-pence bet at age 13 that turned into a year’s supply of comic books One of your sites is dedicated exclusive- ly to the Grand National. For our readers outside the U.K. who may not familiar with the race, can you describe the phe- nomenon that is the Grand National? It’s part cavalry charge, part parkour, but mostly it’s a marathon race for horses. It’s a particularly dangerous race — 11 horses have died in the running over the last 15 years. What are your thoughts on animal rights activists who say the race should be discontinued? Animal rights activists target the Grand National due to its popularity and status. In the last five years, organizers have gone to extraordi- nary lengths to improve safety. No horse has died since the introduction of safety recommendations after the 2012 race. The ultimate aim for the animal rights ac- tivists is a complete ban on all horse rac- ing. If they succeed in banning the Grand National, their attention will quickly turn to Cheltenham, and eventually to flat rac- ing too. Thankfully, the record crowds at Cheltenham Racecourse and Aintree prove the British love affair with racing is far from over. Grand National keywords are some of the most competitive in the iGaming industry, especially in the lead-up to the race. How does your site perform in search results? grand-national.me.uk performs well in major search engines. We’re proud to be the source for many Wikipedia articles. We’ve spent lots of time researching and collating historical information about the race — over 800 ar- ticles at last count. However, the level of detail we offer can be overwhelming for some visitors. Each year we produce a microsite that focuses only on the upcoming race. This year Grand-National2016.co.uk at- tracted over 2.7 million visitors, and our Facebook page reached an additional 2 million people. U.K. bookmakers reportedly took a beat- ing at Cheltenham when a number of fa- vorites ended up winning. With a field of 40 horses, do punters have a harder time picking winners for the Grand National? What does that mean from an affiliate’s perspective? People tend to think the Grand National is a complete lottery. That’s not strictly true, although the race has produced five 100/1 winners over its long history. The majority of win- ners fall into a narrow band, statistically. Normally you can discount half the field each year using these stats. Even so, that doesn’t stop people picking a horse for random reasons — color of silks, the horse’s name, etc. Our job is to help punters make educated bets, if they choose to do so. I know that tipping up winners in the Grand National has reduced our revenue share. However, I’d rather a visitor comes back to us 12 months later for another tip than make a short-term gain. What’s your best betting story on the race? Do you have any tips for first-time bettors? Like many people in the U.K., my first bet was a small each-way wa- ger on the Grand National. I was about 13 years old! I had 50 pence on Maori Venture in the 1987 race, and I won about 30 quid — a tidy sum that purchased a year’s worth of comics. My tip for picking a winner is to look for a horse between nine and 11 years old. Proven ability over the fences is a must. If a horse has fallen at Doncaster or Leicester, he’ll struggle over the much bigger Aintree fences. A horse carrying between 10st-5lb and 11st-3lb in weight is ideal. In addition to your Grand National site, you also run casino sites. Tell us a little bit about The Game Hunter. What do you aim to offer visitors to that site? Can you provide a bit of history behind the site’s logo? The Game Hunter was the first site we launched, back in 2003. The concept was to produce a casino and game guide that focused on the fun side of casino gam- ing. We had the idea of a virtual guide to help users navigate the jungle of casino games and offers. Cornelius “The Game Hunter” is our guide, and he’s been fea- tured on the site ever since we launched. The Game Hunter offers reviews of on- line casinos, sportsbooks, bingo rooms and poker rooms. How do you decide which sites to promote? We prefer to fea- ture brands that have a big U.K. presence. The likes of Betfair, Paddy Power, Gala and Mecca are well known and trusted by our visitors. Your hometown is Manchester . . . so are you a backer of Manchester United, Manchester City or Liverpool? I’m a sea- son ticket holder at Old Trafford — 100% Manchester United. GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES Paul Eddison TheGameHunter GPWA Affiliate Interview Series